Belt from which articles are to be dispensed



Dec. 3, 1968 D, D. LITT ET AL 3,414,123

BELT FROM WHICH ARTICLES ARE TO BE DISPENSED Filed Jan. 17, 1967 INVENTORS DONALD D. LITT DAVID B. JAROFF ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,414,123 BELT FROM WHICH ARTICLES ARE TO BE DISPENSED Donald D. Litt, Scarsdale, and David B. Jarolf, New York, N.Y., assignors to Miner Industries, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 609,845 2 Claims. (Cl. 206-56) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A flexible belt from which articles, particularly balloons, held in openings spaced along the belt are to be dispensed is formed in sections which are separably joined in end-to-end relation so that belt sections carrying balloons or other articles can be joined to belt sections already in a dispensing machine for replenishing the supply of articles to be dispensed. The joining together of the belt sections is achieved by forming the ends of the latter with mating projections which are held in interfitting relation by tape adhesively secured thereacross.

This invention relates generally to a belt by which articles, particularly rubber balloons, are carried through a machine by which the articles are dispensed.

In US. application Ser. N0. 519,992, filed Jan. 11, 1966, and having a common assignee herewith, there is disclosed a balloon dispensing machine in which a belt or web having balloons held frictionally at their necks in openings spaced apart along the belt is intermittently advanced through a distance equal to the spacing between its successive openings so that during each period when the belt is at rest, a check valve within a balloon neck carried by the belt is aligned with and engaged by a nozzle through which gases are delivered for inflating the balloon. After it is inflated, each balloon is automatically separated from the belt, preferably by movement imparted to the nozzle so as to knock-out from the opening of the belt the neck of the balloon and the check valve held in the neck for retaining the inflating gases within the balloon. The belt from which the balloons have been separated is progressively rewound or otherwise stored within the dispensing machine.

In the use of the above described balloon vending or dispensing machine, it is contemplated that the balloons will be mounted in the belt by automated devices at a central location and that such balloon carrying belts will be installed in the dispensing machines when the periodic service calls at the individual machines indicate the need for replenishing the supplies of balloons therein. However, at the time of any such service call, the supply of balloons in the machine may not be fully exhausted so that, if the balloons are carried by a one-piece belt, one can either leave the supply as is, in which case the supply will probably be completely exhausted before the next scheduled service call, or the existing belt can be replaced by a new belt filled with balloons, in which case the balloons still carried by the replaced belt will be either wasted or cause complications in the reloading of such belt.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to avoid the above difficulties in a dispensing or vending machine of the described character by providing the belt carrying the balloons or other articles in sections which are separably engageable in end-to-end relation.

When the belt is thus formed in separably engageable sections, at the time of each service call, the sections of the belt from which the balloons have been removed can be withdrawn from the machine and a suitable number of belt sections loaded with balloons can be attached to Patented Dec. 3, 1968 the belt sections remaining in the machine to restore the supply of balloons to the full capacity of the machine.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the several belt sections have their ends irregularly cut to define projections, for example, of dove-tail configuration, extending therefrom to interfit with mating projections at the ends of adjacent sections when the sections are assembled to form the belt. In a convenient embodiment, the mating projections are simply held in interfitting engagement by means of a length of tape adhesively held to the belt sections over the mating projections for maintaining the latter in a common plane.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention, will be apparent in the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment thereof which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view illustrating some of the internal assemblies in a balloon vending machine of the type in which a belt in accordance with this invention for carrying the balloons or other articles to be dispensed may be employed;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the belt embodying this invention at a joint between two contiguous sections thereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to that of FIG. 2, but showing the configurations at the ends of the adjacent belt sections by which the latter are joined; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that a balloon vending machine 10, as shown on FIG. 1, may have within its usual cabinet a compartment 11 to which access may be had through a door (not shown) at the front of the cabinet. A storage receptacle 12, for example, in the form of an upwardly open box, is disposed in the cabinet below compartment 11 to contain a supply of the balloons to be vended or dispensed. As shown par ticularly on FIG. 4, each balloon B has the usual neck N with a thickened bead or rim R extending around its mouth, and a check valve V is secured in the mouth of the balloon to permit the passage of gas therethrough only in the direction for inflating the balloon. The valve V may be of a conventional type and is not described herein as it provides no part of the present invention.

The balloons B to be vended or dispensed are releasably carried by an elongated, flexible belt which is generally identified by the reference numeral 13 and has openings 14 (FIG. 2) that are uniformly spaced apart along the belt and each dimensioned to receive and frictionally retain the neck of a balloon B provided with a valve V, as described above.

Initially, balloons are mounted in all of openings 14 of belt 13 with the exception of those openings along one end portion of the belt which constitutes a leader. The belt 13 with balloons B suspended therefrom is laid in folds or otherwise stored in receptacle 12, and the end portion of the belt constituting a leader is drawn upwardly from re ceptacle 12 through a curving guide entry 15 at one side of compartment 11 and then along a guide 16 that extends laterally across the compartment (FIG. 1). As shown particularly on FIG. 4, the guide 16 may include two spaced apart, parallel channel members opening toward each other so as to slidably receive the longitudinal edge portions of the belt 13 with the necks of the successive balloons held in openings 14 of the belt being accommodated in the slot that extends centrally along guide 16 between the channel members of the latter. The side wall of compartment 11 remote from the entry guide 15 has an opening therein to permit belt 13 to exit from the compartment. As is apparent, belt 13 is arranged in guide 16 so that, in the portion of the belt extending along the guide across compartment 11, the balloons carried by the belt will be suspended from the latter and will have their valves V projecting upwardly from the belt through the slot of guide 16.

After exiting from compartment 11, belt 13 is extended around a drive wheel 17 which is rotatably supported and has spaced apart radial projections 18 extending from its peripheral surface-for engagement in openings 14 of belt 13. The drive wheel 17 is suitably turned during each operation of the dispensing machine to advance belt 13 along guide 16 by a distance equal to the spacing between the successive belt openings 14. Belt 13 travels downwardly from drive wheel 17 and is wound on a take-up reel 19 which is rotatably supported and suitably driven in synchronism with the rotation of the drive wheel.

If, in the balloon vending or dispensing machine 10, as generally described above, the belt 13 is formed as a continuous, one-piece strip of flexible plastic or other material, then difficulties in the servicing of the machine may arise. Thus, when a periodic service call is made at an individual dispensing machine, the supply of balloons carried by the belt 13 may not be fully exhausted. If the balloons are carried by a one-piece belt, one can either leave the supply of balloons as is, in which case the supply of balloons will probably run out or be exhausted before the next scheduled service call, or the existing belt Which still carries a substantial number of balloons can be replaced by a new belt filled with balloons, in which case the balloons still carried by the replaced belt will be either wasted or cause complications when such belt is returned to a central location for reloading by suitable automated devices.

In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing difficulties are avoided by forming the belt 13 of a number of belt sections 20 each constituted by an elongated, flat strip of flexible material, for example, of polyethylene or the like. Each belt section 20 is formed with a suitable number of the openings 14 at spaced apart locations therein to carry a corresponding number of the balloons B to be dispensed. Further, releasable securing means generally indicated at 21 are provided for securing together the belt sections 20 in end-to-end relation. Such securing means 21 may be constituted by mating projections 22 and 23 (FIG. 3) at the opposite ends of each belt section. Such projections 22 and 23 may be of dove-tail configuration, as shown, and adapted to interfit with corresponding mating projections at the adjacent ends of other belt sections. Such interfitting projections 22 and 23, so long as they remain in a common plane, are capable of strongly resisting longitudinal separation of the ends of the contiguous belt sections 20. In order to retain the interfitting projections 22 and 23 in a common plane, and thus secure together the adjacent ends of contiguous belt sections, there may be simply provided a length of tape 24 overlying the interfitting projections 22 and 23 and being adhesively secured thereto, for example, by a tacky adhesive on the tape 24. The tape 24 may be easily stripped from the belt, whereupon the mating projections 22 and 23 can be separated by relative movement out of a common plane.

When the belt 13 is formed of a plurality of sections 20 joined together in end-to-end relation, as at 21, at the 4 time of each service call, the section or sections of the belt from which the balloons have been removed can be withdrawn from the machine and a suitable number of belt sections loaded with balloons can be attached to the end of the belt within receptacle 12 so as to restore the supply of balloons in the machine to its full capacity. Thus, there is no danger that the supply of balloons will run out before the next service call, nor is there the necessity of removing belt sections from the machine that still carry balloons to be dispensed.

Although an illustrative embodiment of this invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to that precise embodiment, and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. As a renewable source of supply of balloons for a balloon dispensing machine, the combination of a plurality of flexible, elongated belt sections each having a plurality of openings extending therethrough at locations spaced apart along the respective belt section by uniform distances, separably engageable means at the ends of said belt sections for joining together the latter in end-to-end relation with the openings adjacent the joined together ends of the belt sections being spaced apart by said uniform distances, and balloons having necks frictionally retained in said openings of the belt sections and each containing a check valve held in said neck of the balloon, so that the balloons can be successively inflated through said valves while frictionally retained, at their necks, in said openings of the belt sections, and each inflated balloon can be separated from the respective belt section and then maintained in inflated condition by the associated check valve.

2. The combination according to claim 1; wherein said separably engageable means for joining the belt sections includes projections extending from the ends of said belt sections coplanar with the latter, said projections being shaped to interfit when arranged coplanar with each other for transmitting a load from one belt section to the next in the longitudinal direction of the belt sections, and at least one strip of tacky adhesive tape overlying the interfitting projections for maintaining the latter in coplanar relation to each other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,823,789 2/ 8 Henning.

766,930 8/ 1964 Clemons 24-38 2,158,837 5/1939 Schukraft.

FOREIGN PATENTS 86,431 10/1920 Switzerland.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner. J. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner. 

